Thanks to a bizarre MTA policy and a union contract, city bus drivers are taking an average of two months off each time a rider spits on them.

This was revealed at an MTA committee meeting today where officials explained that they define an “assault” on a driver broadly enough to include getting spit on.

Under the drivers’ contract, each time they are assaulted they are entitled to take sick time to recover.

Last year 51 bus operators reported they were spit on and got to take an average of 64 days off, MTA officials said.

They said they believe some of those drivers were abusing the leave time policy and others were genuinely traumatized by being spit in the face. They said they were looking into changing the definition of “assault.”

Altogether 153 drivers were assaulted last year in various ways, including being punched. “Some use no sick time at all,” MTA bus chief Joe Smith said.